1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video game apparatus which causes a main game to progress via reading from a recording medium of a main program for executing a main game and data used in this main program, as well as to a game progress program and game progress method used in such apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, improvements in hardware performance have enabled home video game apparatuses to display games with increased detail and richness. In addition, by using a recording medium that can record a large amount of data, such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM, exciting and detailed games can be conveniently played in the home via these home video game apparatuses.
Games can be played on the video game apparatus described above by first reading into an internal RAM a game-related program together with image, sound and other data from a recording medium, and by then having a CPU read out the program and data from the RAM.
However, a certain period of time is required for the video game apparatus described above to read in (load) the data to a storage unit of the video game apparatus, i.e., the RAM, from the CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other recording medium. In particular, improvements in the performance of hardware such as video game apparatuses has enabled complex image processing, and the amount of data that can be loaded has increased dramatically. This has caused the loading time to increase to approximately 5–10 seconds, which is essentially wasted time to the person waiting to start playing the game, who feels bored during this period.
Furthermore, during loading of the game to the RAM from the recording medium in a conventional video game apparatus, there is no sound, an image is displayed on the display unit such as a television monitor indicating that the loading process is underway, and there is nothing to entertain the player who is waiting to start playing the game.
Accordingly, in order to resolve these problems in the conventional art described above, Japanese Patent No. 2742394, for example, describes a technology wherein prior to the reading of the main program and other components that execute the main game, a secondary game is played, while the main game is loading, by reading a secondary program and other components comprising a small number of commands and a small amount of data. This technology enables the player to quickly become involved in the game without worrying about the loading time for the main program and other components that contain a large amount of commands and data.
However, in order to execute the secondary game during the loading of the main program and other components that execute the main game, using the method of the conventional art, a program and other components to execute the secondary game must be stored separately from the main game on a recording medium and in the RAM of the video game apparatus, which increases the amount of data that must be stored on the recording medium and in the video game apparatus RAM. Moreover, even where the secondary game is not to be played, because the program and other components for the secondary game must be loaded each time the main program and other components are loaded, time and other resources are consumed by processing of this secondary game.